Logic
by Akatsuki assassin
Summary: Set in first year during the potion riddle. Harry figures out the soulution before Hermione in the most interesting way. Rated T for the part after the story. If it wasn't there, it could be rated K.


**I don't own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does. I thought you all knew that. Which you obviously don't if I have to tell you.**

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"That's it Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. "It's a riddle! Even the most powerful wizards haven't got an ounce of logic! Give me a few minutes and I can figure this out." With that, she started pacing up and down the table, muttering to herself and occasionally pointing to one of the bottles.

Harry sat down on the floor and waited for his friend to figure out the riddle. However, he grew bored quickly and found himself staring into the fire that currently was blocking his path from getting to the Sorcerer's Stone. He was wondering if eventually, they would teach the Hogwarts students to summon fire that could kill instantly. 'Wait a minute…'

He looked carefully at the fires on either side of the room, as if looking for something. When he found nothing, he scanned around the rest of the room. When that had no results, he closed his eyes, searching through his memory.

He stood up, walked to the table, and picked up each bottle one at a time, and swirled their contents for a few seconds. When he was done he turned to Hermione, who was still pacing, and tried to get her attention.

"Hey Hermione."

"Wait Harry. I'm still working on it."

"Hermione, listen."

"I said wait Harry! I can figure this out."

Harry closed his eyes in frustration, and slid his palm down his face. "Hermione, I know which one to chose."

She immediately stopped and looked toward Harry with doubt written on her face. "Okay then. Which one is it?"

He picked up the small one at the end. "This one."

She raised he eyebrows in confusion. "What makes you so sure it's that one?"

"Look around the room." said Harry, gesturing with his free hand. "Do you see a dead body anywhere?"

"Eww, Harry. That's gross."

"Just look, Hermione."

A few seconds later, when she had checked around and found nothing, she turned back to Harry.

"Right. There's nothing, which means that whoever was here before us didn't drink the poison."

Hermione was staring at him with a dull look on her face. "That's it? That's how you know? Harry, I shouldn't have to point out that even though we know the liquid that he didn-"

"I'm not done Hermione." interrupted Harry. "Also, if you think back, we didn't see anyone heading back to the third floor."

"Okay…"

"That means, Hermione that if whoever was her first tried to go back, they failed. And if you look at the fire behind us, the isn't a body there either, which means that the person went forward."

"Okay, that makes sense, but there still isn't enough to figu-"

"Still not done, Hermione." interrupted Harry a second time. Hermione just crossed her arms and glared at Harry.

"If you look at the fire in front of us, there isn't a body there either, which means that the person picked the correct bottle and made it through."

Hermione stared at Harry for a moment before she exploded. "I was already assuming that Harry! Of course he had already made it through! All you did was waste time that could've been used on figuring out the riddle! And you never told me how you are so sure that the bottle that you're holding is the right one,"

"Because, Hermione, those bottles," he paused to gesture to the remaining ones on the table, "are full. This one," he paused again to shake the small one that he held, "is half empty. Which means that he drank from this one and made it through, which also means that this is the right one. Come on Hermione, you have to use your head."

Hermione was staring at Harry with a blank look on her face. "Well, which one do I drink to get back?" she asked hopefully.

"Sorry Hermione, you're on your own for that." said Harry, shrugging. He raided the bottle in his hand to his lips, drank the rest of it in one swig, put the bottle back where he took it from, and started walking toward the black flames. As he was about to enter, he turned around to face Hermione again. "Good luck finding the right one!" he yelled while walking backwards.

Hermione glared one last time into the fire before she turned back to the table. 'Well at least I know where one is. That should make things easier.' she thought hopefully.

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**But seriously, it was that simple. **

**This next part is part of the story. I just had to do it.**

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Harry quickly made his way into the chamber at the end of the hall to find it completely empty except for a mirror in the middle that looked strangely familiar.

'The Mirror of Erised!' Harry ran to the middle of the room to stand in front of the mirror. He wanted to be able to see his family again. But when he stood in front of it, the only thing he saw was himself.

Confused, Harry decided to check around the mirror to be sure that it was working properly. He soon discovered that behind that mirror was the butchered body of Professor Quirrell lying in a pool of blood. After Harry was done throwing up, he reluctantly searched the body to look for the Stone, but it was gone.

He was beginning to feel dizzy from throwing up. He could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. Before he fainted, though, he was able to read something written below the Professor in blood.

"**TOBI IS A GOOD BOY! :)****"**

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**That is why he lived for so long. All of the other members with a form of immortality are explained except for Tobi. Well, there it is.**

**You lost the game.**


End file.
